CCS football playoffs: Bellarmine top seed in Open Division; coin toss extends Riordan's season

SAN JOSE -- The biggest drama Sunday at the Central Coast Section football playoff seeding meeting unfolded minutes before the brackets were filled in.

Archbishop Riordan claimed the 14th and final at-large spot after winning a coin flip against Santa Teresa.

Beyond that, it was business as expected.

Bellarmine College Prep, the defending Open Division champ, is the top seed and will begin defense of its title Friday night against No. 8 seed Terra Nova.

No. 2 seed Oak Grove, the Open Division's only undefeated team, will play at home Friday against seventh-seeded Archbishop Mitty.

No. 3 seed Palma, which has won seven in a row since losing to Seaside on Sept. 21, will play Friday at the Salinas Sports Complex against St. Ignatius. The Wildcats, seeded sixth, will travel 108 miles from their San Francisco campus for the game.

Fourth-seeded Palo Alto, the Open Division runner-up last season, will play host to No. 5 seed Serra on Friday. The Vikings have won six straight since opening league play with a loss to Milpitas. Serra is coming off a stunning 24-0 loss at home to St. Francis on Saturday.

Palo Alto coach Earl Hansen says he expects to see a hungry West Catholic Athletic League opponent Friday.

"I'm sure they will be; I'm sure they'll want part of our public school," Hansen said.

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Unlike last season, when Bellarmine cruised to the Open title, the division doesn't have an overwhelming favorite.

"I think it is wide open," Mitty coach Matt Haniger said.

The No. 1 seeds in the other brackets are Milpitas (Division I), St. Francis (Division II), Monterey (Division III) and Seaside (Division IV).

Champions of the section's four "A" leagues (BVAL Mount Hamilton, SCVAL De Anza, PAL Bay and MBL Gabilan) and its one "A+" league (West Catholic Athletic League) automatically made the Open Division.

The final three spots in the eight-team Open bracket went to the remaining teams with the most power points from the "A" and "A+" leagues -- in this case, Serra, St. Ignatius and Mitty.

After the Open Division was done, enrollment (largest to smallest) was used to complete the remaining four divisions.

Riordan, after its coin-flip victory, was seeded seventh in Division III and will travel to Morgan Hill to play No. 2 seed Sobrato on Saturday at Live Oak High.

Santa Teresa (5-5) and Riordan (3-7) each finished with 20.5 power points, forcing the section to use its tiebreaking procedures to break the deadlock.

Because the teams did not play each other this season and did not have a common opponent, the coin flip was used to settle the issue.

Santa Teresa coach Nick Alfano picked green. The coin came up red.

For Riordan, it marked the team's first victory since it defeated Mission of San Francisco on Sept. 15.

For Santa Teresa, it meant Alfano had to break the bad news to his players. The coach had hoped to practice Monday. Instead, his players will hand in their gear Tuesday.